Nervous
by tastewithouttalent
Summary: "By the time Spirit makes it in the front door he is exhausted, and late, and hungry, and still so nervous he feels he might get sick at a moment's notice." Spirit is good at panicking and Stein is good at humoring him. Part 1 of the Intended series. Followed by Right.


Spirit has been nervous all day. He half-expected Stein to say something about it in the morning before he left, which meant that he rushed out of the house to to Academy before he remembered he didn't eat breakfast. Luckily he was so nervous all morning that the lack of food didn't register around the butterflies in his stomach. Unfortunately that same nervousness makes it impossible for him to pay any attention to what is actually happening; when the end of the day comes Lord Death has to shoo him away before he realizes it's time to go, and then walking back to the house he gets lost three times before he is able to focus enough to get himself back to the lab proper.

By the time he makes it in the front door he is exhausted, and late, and hungry, and still so nervous he feels he might get sick at a moment's notice. Stein beat him back, for once, though after his meandering through the city streets it's not _that_ much of a surprise. What is a surprise is that the meister is out in the living room when Spirit comes in the front door, unfolding himself to his feet as the weapon comes down the hallway.

"Ah." Spirit comes up short as he sees the other man, drawing back on his heels before he can even attempt to hide the flush of panic that hits him. "Stein. You're here."

"It's past sundown," Stein observes, maneuvering around the furniture to come closer to his weapon. His coat is gone, probably back in the study or the laboratory room proper, and his hands are in his pockets even as he moves forward. He's smiling too, just a curve at the very corner of his mouth, and that makes Spirit smile in response in spite of the flutter of nerves in his stomach. "You're not usually back so late."

There's no judgment, not even any concern, just a flicker of curiosity under Stein's words as he comes in close enough to touch, if he reached out, before he stops and tips his head at Spirit. The weapon tries to breathe normally and is pretty sure he's failing even before he opens his mouth to stretch for some sort of plausible explanation.

"Ah. Yeah. I got lost."

Stein's mouth pulls tight with a smile he makes only a passing attempt to repress. "Between the Academy and here? You've been walking it twice a day for six _years_, senpai. Is your memory going in your old age?"

"Shut up." Spirit is laughing. It's a relief, a little. "I was distracted, that's all."

"You've been distracted all day." Stein leans back and keeps smiling, though his eyes are going softer as he watches Spirit. "What are you so panicked about?"

"Don't look at my wavelength," Spirit says automatically.

Stein lifts his hands out of his pockets and holds them palm-up in front of him. "I'm not."

"Might as well be," Spirit grumbles. "You are way too good at reading me."

"Ah, well." Stein crosses his arms. "It's the practice, I suppose."

"Do you want to get married?"

That...was not how Spirit had planned to ask that question. He's been thinking about it all day, trying out different scenarios to suit and that was _nowhere_ on the list. Too many hypothetical testing of the words make them easy to blurt, though, and Stein's eyes are soft behind his glasses, and the panic wells up his throat and speaks for him.

Stein's eyebrows go up and his chin comes down, but the smile doesn't fade and he doesn't laugh, and Spirit is endlessly grateful for both those things.

"Is _that_ what you've been fretting about?"

Spirit huffs a sigh and crosses his shaking arms over his chest in a futile attempt to quell the tremble of adrenaline. "It's worth fretting about!"

"Is it." Stein unfolds his arms and reaches out to rest his fingers gently against Spirit's elbow. The contact helps steady the weapon. "Apologies. I think this is another one of those things I don't understand."

"Good thing you have me." Spirit laughs. His nerves make it come out choked and stuttered, but Stein smiles anyway, his gaze fixed against Spirit's mouth or maybe his throat rather than his eyes.

"Good thing." His eyes flicker up to Spirit's and he holds the weapon's gaze for a moment. "You want to get married?"

"Uh." Spirit's entire throat closes up so for a moment he can't even breathe. "Yeah. Yes. Yes, I do. Do you?"

"I want anything you want," Stein offers.

Spirit sighs again. "That is _not_ an answer."

"Senpai." Stein's fingers close into a hold proper on Spirit's elbow and he takes a half-step forward. "I'm with you." He says it easily, like the words have less meaning than they do, like that one preposition isn't carrying a lifetime of dedication behind it. "You know that."

Spirit does know it. "Yeah, but -"

"If you want to get married we can." Stein smiles, his gaze still flickering around Spirit's face instead of settling on his eyes. "It doesn't make a difference to me."

Spirit laughs again and lets his arms unfold. "Yeah, I know, but it -"

"Matters to you." Stein finishes for him, and he's leaning in to ghost his mouth against Spirit's cheek so the weapon can't think straight. "So we should." Spirit can feel him smile, and when the meister speaks his voice sounds normal but is very soft in consideration of how close he is to Spirit's ear. "It sounds nice. I'd _like_ you to wear a ring for me."

"Is that sentimentality?" Spirit asks. He's aiming for a teasing tone, but it comes out a little shaky, and Stein chuckles and settles his other hand against Spirit's waist as the weapon's hands come up into his hair.

"Possessiveness." Stein's lips press against Spirit's hair for a breath. "You know that about me."

Spirit does know.


End file.
